the way you make me feel

Feels a little wrong to use a Michael Jackson song to headline a post about Beethoven and Out of Africa.

Last night I watched Out of Africa for the first time. I cried. It's one of those movies that somehow leaves you wanting more of whatever it is that evokes such intensity. Which was unrequited love. Of course, I don't really want that. Unrequited love sucks. That's why I got married.

The movie tells a simple story, really, set against the breathtaking backdrop of the African wilderness and a coffee plantation. He is elusive, solitary, the spirit of Africa. She symbolizes civilization, of the land, the native children, and him. While I was melancholy at the movie's end, I wasn't sure for whom. Her, because he was always just out of reach? Or him, because when he ultimately is tamed, it leads to his demise? Regardless, it's one of those beautifully haunting movies that will be added to my list of favorites because it transported me... made me feel.

Which brings to mind a quote from Beethoven in the movie Immortal Beloved. Answering his own question, 'What does music do?' he says, "It is the power of music to carry one directly into the mental state of the composer. The listener has no choice. It is like a hypnotism.... 'This is how it feels....' the music is saying. 'Not how you are used to being, not how you are used to thinking, but like this.'"

Thank God, truly, for music and movies and books ...